A Series Of Fleeting Looks
by Lapse - Raevn
Summary: [100 Glances] A chain of captured moments that were or were not welcome. One after the other. Yaoi. LeonRiku.
1. Singing Jewelry Box, Whisper Whisper

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is owned by Square Enix and Disney. And all those other companies that lent their resources and characters to the game.

Warning: Yaoi. (Boy's love.) Perhaps some implications of darker content.

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Not much to say, except that it's been doodled in on-and-off for a while. You know, a few sentences one day, a short paragraph the next. It'll be continued. If I manage to, I'd like to get it up to one hundred glances.

I don't expect anyone to understand it. xD But if you do – you're absolutely amazing. I don't think I understand all of it, and I wrote it. --; But if you read through it, you should find a plot. Yes.

Don't think, just read. Expect typos – a crapload of typos.

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* * *

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**A Series Of Fleeting Looks**

The First Twenty Glances

_LeonRiku moments, all piled together to form a semblance of no plot._

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1.

When they meet, it's on a rainy day; they type in which hair is plastered sorely on a person's forehead and pants which they both deemed too tacky to be cuffed were soaked, leaving a trail of dampness trailing up their legs and touching their knees. And it's a day when they're both running in their own way, not literally, but either from or out of a relationship or away from the realities of people who know who they are.

Gray eyes meet green and the faces attached to the eyes _gestures_ a slight nod with morbid understanding.

Splotches of shallow, murky, and _sketched_ water line the streets and the gutters in which the younger's bag fell. _It was of useless content anyway_, Riku thinks, and how it was of much less significant now that the day was ending.

He doesn't normally let himself be bought – or even give off the _impression_ that he's that type of person, but the desperation that meets his relenting eyes breaks his resolve.

That night, when legs are tangled in a personal yet _not_ embrace, and the older but still young man is pooling through his troubles, Riku gets up and walks into a neatly tiled bathroom.

He uses a brand new, unwrapped toothbrush that he found in the cabinet, and muses lightly that Leon tastes nothing like the mint toothpaste he uses on the counter. The brunette tastes much different – like a shot of espresso too early in the morning, but bitter enough that it addicts you.

After a moments debate, he takes up rooming on the couch adjourning the master bedroom. Riku hugged a pillow in his arms as replacement – it was hot enough to go without covering.

Leon doesn't say it, but he only sleeps after realizing he didn't hear the sound of his door opening.

-

2.

The next time they meet, it's in a street not three blocks away from the previous one. They both have hair a bit longer and egos cut a bit shorter than before. Struggles that children were never taught did that to a person.

Leon's mind jumped to conclusions a bit too early – it was never in his nature to sit and listen. And the firm, steady grip on his wrist convinces Riku that the older man still has some things to work out, and his greenish eyes manage not to look back at respective pairs of sapphire blue and piercing green a shade off his own watching him go.

They're not sure whether or not to stop him.

They have a heart-to-heart chat, remarkably soothing and deep for two complete strangers who shared nothing but a single night. Nothing else happens that evening, except glasses tinkling in comfortable near-silence and unsteady _whooshes_ of the cushions as they breathe in air from the removal of their weight.

But it proves that they don't need that _one_ tie to hold this _something_ together.

The two don't exchange trivial things such as addresses or cell phone numbers, because they expect that they would never meet each other again anyway. This second time is a mere coincidence of providence and crossed pathways.

The next morning, Riku leaves the apartment dryer than before and hair just a bit straighter. His wallet sits full in his pocket while he chews on another bite of bread, with more waiting for him in his hands.

He doesn't usually accept charity, but there really isn't any other word for it.

-

3.

When Riku takes his order, Leon doesn't blink.

It's nice to see that the younger teen took his last conversation to heart, he thinks. Even if at first he had been _utterly mistaken_ and assumed the worst, as he had with his other friend. Except, with her it was different – _she_ really was caught up in the bad side of the city.

He got there too late.

Leon moves up in line – there's only another person in front of him now; someone with a brown, tall hat with fringe on the side. _A cowboy_, he thinks. He's close enough to hear the person order a tall order of fries with a drink on the side.

Not real food. But when Riku hands back the man's change – bills under coins, and the receipt on top – the light-haired man tilts his head in the teen's direction and gives a smile of thanks. Riku nod's back in rapid succession, and Leon feels a twinge of worry again.

Or jealousy, he can't differ the difference.

But Riku's clothes are clean and laundered, and there are the only the faintest signs of creasing – which showed proper habits of ironing. So he leaves the restaurant with his bag of food in hand and without a single greeting but a nod.

They know, and they are the only two who need to.

-

4.

Riku couldn't get over the fact that he had been kicked out.

Granted, he wasn't a street child by blood, and neither was he ever hungry or uncared for. (Neglected perhaps, but always well provided for.) But he was one at heart – as cliché as it sounded - and _he_ saw that and so did the others, but in an attempt to soothe the jealous wraths of other groups of them having support from higher-ups, he left.

He left to level the playing field, and in sacrifice he wasn't allowed to play any longer.

Axel watched him leave, because it reminded him so much of the situation with Roxas and stroke a chord of his own unhelpfulness. That was all it was, a _desire_ for a change in situation, but not being able or influential enough to change anyone else's mind.

Riku knew what he was doing. So when he saw the spike-styled redhead begin to rise to his feet in protest, he shook his head ever so slightly. And since no one was so intent on his feature at the moment but Axel himself, no one but them noticed.

The hoary-haired teen walked into a familiar hotel and stared straight back at the doorman's suspicious glance. He had found that if he glared back long enough, most people would look away. The blue-uniformed attendant was no difference, and looked off with a snort of indignity.

_Suite 14_, a number higher than the people he had just left, was oddly located on the eighth floor.

_Knock knock._

The door opened to the same stranger that he had known for the last three months. There was an odd look as he was let in this time – because more than twice meant a habit. And neither of them knew if they were willing to get used to that.

They exchanged numbers this time, because even if they didn't _need_ to, it was reassuring to have something to fall back on.

Neither admitted that the thought had crossed their minds for some time now. People often thought alike, after all.

-

5.

He was walking, and the fake-wood floor was _so hot_ against his bare feet. Unnaturally warm, as if he had stepped onto heated, dying embers that had once been infused with coal.

Bars were a place where people often lost their shoes, he mused. Whether from lack of consciousness or from their own inattention – which Riku supposed was the same in both ways.

But they were nice places, because they offered refuge. No one was idiotic enough to visit the same place more than twice a week, because then a face was but on honorable memory and would be sought after.

In a bar, with the lights melting girls' makeup and beads of sweat were a person's best friend, Riku felt quite at home. _No expectations_.

He sat with his feet suspended. Not that the stool would let his legs reach the floor anyway, but it amused him to try.

"Here. From the guy who down the isle."

Watching as the attendant pouring him a shot of the seemingly clear substance, Riku turned to glance at the door, seeing the end of a telltale black jacket.

Riku was one of the idiotic ones. And he preferred it that way.

A lot of people cleared out when a police car's siren flew by.

-

6.

Maybe it was his own obvious fear, but that didn't stop him from worming a way into the older man's blankets and cocooning himself in the dying heat.

The heat from the expensive cotton traveled through his arms and into his abdomen.

Riku could hear the sound of a shower running, and he imagined soap bubbles and bubble baths he hadn't seen since he was a child. He had an odd green foaming liquid back then – so much different from the bars of scent Leon preferred to use.

When the brunette comes back to find his bed fill and his sheets monopolized, he doesn't say a word and Riku doesn't look up. He can feel a faint heartbeat at his back, but he can't tell if that's the other man's or his own whimsical imagination.

Riku's head hurt from a recent and not-so-obvious hangover.

He woke up two hours later with a fainter pounding on the side of his forehead. Riku raised a hand to the stop and felt it _pulsate_ and throb. His own hand felt too hot.

Leon offered him a piece of dry toast and a glass of water. A nibble didn't make him throw up, so he took a bigger bite and washed it down with a sip of water.

Previously that afternoon – no, it was yesterday - Leon received a call and a blurry voice message. When he got there, he took the bottle from Riku's unresisting fingers and whistled as he read the label.

_Expensive shit._

-

7.

There was something that Leon hated about looking in a mirror. It was like looking into a distorted reality that wasn't his, like looking at _Squall_, and he didn't look often because he didn't know how to be jealous of himself.

He hadn't seen the light-haired kid in about a month now, and was slowly settling back into an image of normality. Or as normal as his life could get, with the amount of gunshots that he himself was used to.

The city life was never dull, after all.

His own trusted gun lay at easy rest in a drawer near his bed. There was another sitting and collecting dust in another drawer at the edge of his kitchen. Next to the utensils.

Leon figured that if his suite was ever ransacked and he ran out of bullets, he could toss knives at the intruder and hoped he hit them.

He wondered if aiming a gun and throwing a table knife required the same skill.

…Not that he expected _anyone_ to be insane enough to climb through his eight story floor window. That didn't explain the barred windows and wire.

Paranoid? Perhaps. But as long as the paranoia didn't get in the way of his daily activities, it didn't hurt to take a few minutes of his lifetime to take…preventions.

-

8.

It seemed that Cloud had been made the official leeway between himself and the…club. In decent terms.

Really, the blonde was one of the few members that Riku could stand.

It wasn't a relationship that either of them acknowledged. Not really. It was messaging for events to stay clear of, or others that he could safely walk through when it was the organization's business alone. Occasionally there was a voice speaking out of his phone, but those were rare.

Cloud didn't like phone calls, and avoided them as often as he could. Riku decided to be considerate and dropped the blonde a number to his own personal voice box.

His cell phone was empty afterwards. It looked like the blonde had taken his unspoken message and passed the digits onto the rest.

Only three people used his old number now.

-

9.

He had to keep reminding himself that Riku was a _child_.

But sometimes it was hard, because through random conversations the teen spoke like no child could. He had a definite type of speech that only changed when he was unsure – and there weren't many things Riku were unsure of.

And times when Riku rattled off information that he was sure most people didn't know, such as the amount of blood a person has in their body or where the best place to hit nerves depending on situations, Leon knew that Riku was trying to push him away and didn't let it happen.

Rather, he responded in hand, enjoying the way a puzzled look descended on the kid's features and the way a mind inhaled new information. Learning.

He _wasn't_ dependent on the teen, far from it. But if anyone was going to be on the pushing end, it was going to be him.

-

10.

It reminded him of when he was younger, and when his mother would smooth his hair back and tuck it behind his ear. It reminded him of warm milk mixed with cocoa powder to create something that was neither.

Of his father and shreds of paper littering the work floors. How he took up a pair of plastic scissors and attempted to make them beautiful – to make them into _shapes_ and _chains_.

And of cruel, nylon nets and wavering wings aflutter all over the hills. Himself chasing them then letting them go again, because when they were put in jars they didn't last long – didn't _glow_ anymore.

But that was when he had been five.

Then there had been a fire.

Riku shivered and curled into himself a bit tighter.

He hated nightmares. They _woke_ up a person to reality. They reminded him of what _home_ was like.

-

11.

When Riku found out that the brunette could cook, _and_ had a fully stocked kitchen, he promptly sat down at his kitchen counter and demanded food.

Not only that, but food of a caliber that Leon himself was used to.

And when the teen had stared at the steaming _red_ _thing_ that adorned his plate, he couldn't help but stare. Leon pretended not to notice as he put down his own plate, which was not _red_, and two cups.

So Riku shrugged – he had never seen a poison of such an obvious color – and took a bite. His eyes widened in such a way that Leon pushed down a laugh, and the older man watched as Riku took a gulp of soda.

Soda – _child's play_ – right on top of the spiciness on his tongue causes it to burn further. Riku grimaced. _Not a good idea_. …But according to Leon's smirk, that had been the male's idea all along.

Growling, he switched his plate for Leon's, and Leon only shrugged. Milk – _more child's play _– apparently went well with spicy food.

-

12.

Leon wrote with his left hand. Riku wrote with his right.

They both noticed that on the occasion that they were asked to sign a release form. The duo subconsciously added that to the list of things they knew about the other, the list that they both kept without the other's notice.

Later, Riku mused that in the span of these few meetings, he had gotten to know the other somewhat further than he knew those from his childhood. Perhaps it was because he was done _changing_. And it was different from growing up with someone, because during that time you're there to _see_ them change, and it makes you uneasy.

He opened the door. _Speak of the devil._

-

13.

Leon's doctor didn't visit anymore.

He used to make home calls – he was that much of a higher class that he never scheduled appointments – only gave hints of dates and showed up on his door step.

But lately, since Leon hadn't had any life-threatening situations – he hadn't felt the need to go bungee-jumping, at least – the doctor made it his job to bother the other, more mental patients that he had taken under his wing.

Riku had raised an eyebrow when he made a bonfire of prescription receipts that he had never used. It was on the balcony of his suite – he should have worried that he was going to burn down the building but he didn't. The fire was easily doused by dragging the kitchen sink's stretchable faucet to the area and letting the water reduce it.

He ignored the intent way Riku studied the fire.

When they went inside, Leon sat on the sofa and looked up expectantly.

He never really liked answering those silly, rhetorical questions – but he felt it was needed at the time.

-

14.

Piercing wasn't something that was necessary. Or even something pleasant. They were more a symbol of slavery, Riku himself thought. That didn't stop him from getting a cheap not-ruby stud embedded in his left ear.

He went to a less shoddy place afterwards and bought himself a pair of real black-silver earrings fitted in small bands. They had an odd, simplistic design that caught his eye easily. And they _felt_ right.

Riku knocked on Leon's door and asked him if he had disinfectant. Riku himself didn't keep such things stocked, but he figures with Leon's _habits_, he might have.

Leon had antiseptic for wounds, but the teen figured it would do and secluded himself in the bathroom. He poured the liquid onto his skin and dabbed at it with some cotton balls he found in a plastic bag in the cabinet.

Riku ignored the burning sensation.

He undid the clasp holding the original stud together and tossed that out the small bathroom window. Washing the newly opened rings, he inserted one of the needles in his ear and connected the piece.

The other loop went into his pocket.

Screw the month he was supposed to keep the thing in.

He found a lion-fashioned earring the size of his thumb nail in his mail box the next day. The details were amazingly refined, but his flesh wasn't used to supporting such weight just yet.

Riku put it on its own shelf in the bathroom cabinet until his ear was healed enough.

-

15.

It was his own fault, Riku mused later.

Cloud had told him not to go anywhere that day. But Cloud didn't know his schedule, and Riku felt that he was well-equipped enough to tackle a few lousy lower-class members.

But he hadn't wanted to stain anything, not today.

He had only brought a single knife with him. But it had turned out to be enough – not enough to get away unlashed and unscarred, but enough to get to the store and back during a huge free-for-all.

But… Riku looked down at the nicely wrapped pendant in his grip, and frowned. He tore a piece of stained red tissue paper off and equalized the rest of the edges, and smiled.

When he got home, he looked at his calendar and checked the day off.

Birthdays were something to be cherished, after all. Another year one has lived through. He couldn't remember his own, but it made him feel a bit better and a bit less _overtaking_ that he had found the other man something appropriate.

It seemed that he couldn't get away from anything after all. Not that he was running. He was more _found_.

-

16.

A simple _"We need you back."_ was all it took.

He almost laughed at the audacity of it all. Instead, he invited the cerise-haired man and the shorter brunette inside. Mouthing for them to take off their shoes (He laughed as they made faces and eyed the many buckled and laces that adorned them.), he set off to the small, but perfectly shaped kitchen not too far away.

Riku made tea, because he himself enjoyed it. He couldn't quite remember his _acquaintances_ favorite drinks. A faint trace of orange traced an impression in his thoughts, but he didn't have any of the orange-colored juice in his fridge, and _hell_ if he was going to hand squeeze it for them.

This wasn't a gourmet bar.

To think that his old boss sent the very _same_ people whom he had used to get rid of him… It was ridiculous. His house was small enough without people dressed in hefty black cloaks littering his doorstep at every waking hour.

Some of them were really quite messed up as well. _Who ever heard of someone dating his own therapist?_ At least, that was how Saix had been initiated.

Axel opened his mouth, and suddenly Riku could feel the smooth power and thin sharpness of speeches and words. He was sucked back into a world he really no longer had a desire to be in.

Sora barely said a word.

He could feel eyes on him as he set various assorted mugs of no coordinated shape or size in front of them. Tinted green liquid with traces of leaves drifted in them lazily was pouring.

Riku focused on the steam that was rising.

He held a hand over his cup, as if to catch the warmth.

-

17.

Leon noticed that Riku had a softer voice over the phone.

Perhaps it was his ear drums playing tricks on him, or maybe he had forgotten to pay that month's electrical bill. Either way, he didn't mind the yielding speech that came out of his speaker like music.

Only this was _music_ he could influence and change.

He could imagine _cries_ of a higher pitch and a lower one when being serious. Could think of sounds that went with them – the sound of a street car crashing carelessly and lighting the background.

Riku hung up, and Leon went to his fridge. He pulled out a bottle of _something_ that his acquaintance had left last he was here. _Not Riku_. And it had been so long ago…

The tinted green glass bottle had sat there so long that its contents and split and separated apart into sections. The way that grains of wine grapes collected at the bottom spoke of excellent quality.

Leon shook the bottle.

-

18.

His once-stranger took things quite personally.

To such an extent that if taunted, Leon could flaunt all his thrashing skills as well as the next person, and would do it all without practically _moving_.

So when a punch to Riku's head was intercepted by a swift hand catching a wrist, he supposed he shouldn't be surprised. Because even if he didn't realize it consciously and even if he didn't _want it_, he couldn't change it because Riku had claimed Leon in the same way.

He looked down at the blue-clad – _not black_ – older man sitting, almost _leaning_ on the floor in front of them and didn't know whether to laugh or feel sympathy.

Xenmas would have laughed at his pinpoint of emotion.

A scream followed them as they left the alleyway. They weren't holding hands, but they didn't need to.

-

19.

The russet-haired male didn't get sick often, but when it he, he got sick badly.

At first it'd been a simple coughing, a wet hacking noise muted in the back of Leon's throat. It had rapidly turned to a loud pounding in the back of his skull, and shivers when they were uncalled for. Really, when you get goose bumps in the springtime, it should be a clue that something was wrong.

He'd changed into the wrong clothes and stumbled to his bed, clumsy hands reaching under his pillow for his cell phone. He slid it open more with instinct than consciousness and dialed the number _one_. Leon pressed send, then let himself sleep.

The tiny, sleek phone had vibrated in his back pocket at work. After taking a look at the number and blinking twice, he told Aerith that he had an emergency and asked if he could have the rest of the day off. The forgiving woman had nodded worriedly and given him the next day off as well.

The teen had worked many extra hours, after all.

Riku sighed as he realized the numbers in his shaking fingers read that Leon's fever had broken.

Riku squeezed the towel as dry as best he could, wrung it out over the basin. His own pale hands were beginning to frown and shrivel. The caretaker took the bowl of ice water to the kitchen window, intent on watering Leon's plants with the leftover fever water.

It was six in the morning.

-

20.

Jealous and _emotion_ and anger were often the best aphrodisiac.

After a day out and when Leon _unofficially_ walked Riku to his apartment – not in the same class as Leon's, but that was all right, because a caste of the brunette's was hard to reach indeed. And it wasn't in too bad an area either – on the cross lines of three of the groups, so it could easily be deemed neutral territory.

They'd been with their _friends_ for the day. Their companions weren't in any terms in good terms with the one they didn't know, but they worried and cared and _knew_ what the duo was throwing themselves into.

He wasn't surprised when he was pushed into the room and shoved against the door, because you couldn't lead a leather-clad soldier around for a full day without any consequences.

And Riku was expecting it, so he fought back just as hard with his mouth and teeth and lips. They quickly turned bitten and bruised but he didn't mind because sometimes there was a need for venting and this was the best way to do it.

Leon couldn't think, and instead concentrated on getting to the bed – to make _things_ easier – and focused on the feel of younger throat muscles contracting.

Riku let it happen, choking just as hard as he was being pushed – and in the back of his mind he knew that his throat would hurt for days afterward.

The next morning, they realized that they had fallen into something.

And neither of them knew quite what to define it, because Leon couldn't say how he expected Riku to be at the door when there was a knock and Riku couldn't describe the feeling of Leon's sound legs entangled with his own.

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The end! (So far, anyway.)

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:laughes: I'll be surprised if anyone gets any of that. Remember, its 20 _glances_, so you can take them as twenty little drabbles if you'd like. Or try connecting them all together. And there will be eighty more.

Yes, I realize that there are typos. Many of them were left there on purpose. (Such as the insanely long run-on sentences.) Others, well… Either tell me about them or ignore them.

Please review. Even if you didn't like it. :3 I'd be happy to clear up anything. And write in little themes that you'd like to see written in the next part.

Anyway, this is a note just to tell everyone that **I will be gone from July 10th to August 2nd. **I don't know if I will have internet access until I get back, so here's a head up if I don't have anything updated for that entire month. (But I will update **Gutter Snipe** before I leave. And **Perfect Person**, hopefully.

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	2. 38 Dollars Make All The Difference

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, yadda yadda…

Warnings: Yaoi. (Boyxboy love.) And if you can understand it, some darker content.

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Japan was our first stop, and it was absolutely gorgeous. In fact, it inspired a brand new story that I wrote non-stop on the airplane ride. It features Axel and Riku and a trip to around the 'world'. : Look for it later.

This was hard to write during the vacation, because I forgot to save the first chapter on my computer. And I didn't have internet, so I couldn't really remember what I had already written about.

I'm sorry if anyone is confused by any of these. (I think that was my goal, anyway.) But feel free to ask, and I'd be glad to go through it with you. I've gotten some heart-warming reviews for this, too, so thank you. :D

And it's so hard not to write in dialogue, in these drabbles. But I promised myself I wouldn't. ..

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* * *

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**A Series Of Fleeting Looks**

The Next Twenty Glances

_Darling. For next time, please notice when we start to take shape._

-

21.

In his defense, he wasn't the one that had started searching.

_Searching_. It was a word used in the mind of the beholder, _searching_ or _finding_ or simply _looking_.

So they were both _looking_ for something, and they found a fraction of it in each other. No – it wasn't necessary. It wasn't required…but it was easily welcomed. And since neither of them knew what they were doing, neither of them asked the other to explain.

Well, Leon had thought of it. But he had never brought it up.

The thought that it _was_ necessary in the sense of replacement, well…

It confused him, to say the least.

But _that_ collision, those periods of running that day in the rain, Leon knew that things had gone better for both of them since. Better than he, than _she_ had _believed_.

And no, it wasn't the ideal situation, but it fitted enough so that neither of them thought to question it too much.

-

22.

They each had their own moments.

Like Riku and his unhealthy obsession with antiseptic. Like Leon and his desire to take a shower in both the morning and the night.

Like staring at the air condition's remote when it was too hot. The humid aftershave of…exercise. And they were both too _sated_ and idle to get a blanket besides the one they were already on.

Or fetch said remote from its mocking position some feet away.

Leon stared, and Riku stared back. And a _no, neither of them could stubbornly reach it_ was traded back and forth …That was the problem of being acquaintances with _people_ who had traits that matched your own.

The air conditioner was making odd sounds. In an attempt to drown it out, Riku threw the sofa comforter over his head and ears.

Leon blinked, and moved a bit away so that their skin didn't stick as closely together. It was hot enough without the added body heat.

The odd sounds stopped soon, and the brunet fell asleep without questioning why.

He woke up to the sound of their fan turning on and the _snap_ of a cold, opened soda presented in front of him.

-

23.

Leon's clothes had an odd sound, Riku noticed.

It wasn't anything _loud_ – it was like the clicking of a gun, or the simple tapping of silverware against a fragile, china plate. Because Leon wore clothing that completely contrasted with the weather, and with everyone else, he stood out.

He held his own platform, his own _music_.

And Riku couldn't help but listen.

It was when he walked. His not-so-noticeable sway of his legs, almost like a girl's if you didn't count the rest of him and his strong stance. So it wasn't like a girl's at all, then, but Riku preferred it that way.

Leon noticed him looking, _listening_ sometime later. He had offered to lend Riku a belt as well, with an amused smirk.

Riku shook his head and smiled, refused it.

He'd prefer Leon to sound like Leon.

-

24.

The envelope on the floor of Leon's front door read '_Riku'_ in messy script. But the messiness was done purposely.

Sora.

The envelope was bulged, and Riku ran it over Leon's heater before he opened it. Just in case.

_Riku,_

_I gave her your number. Ever since we left, she's been asking about it everywhere. Especially since the aftermath and all._

_Take this with you – it might come in handy later._

_I'm sorry._

_Sky._

Almost the bane of his existence? Not quite.

A _lighter_.

Oh.

Wait.

Oh – he got it.

Sora wanted to repent for his 'death'. How…almost touching.

He picked up the expensive, _real_ silver-lined object and _made sure the top was closed_, before pushing it _deep _into his back pocket. He made sure to run a finger over the engravings, reading the words that his…friend had spent so much time carving.

_Kairi's coming._

That night, his phone rang with a number of which he hadn't seen since he was just a child. Of when there were tall trees, and an odd one that he had bent with the best of his younger years. Since the days of mountains of sand and games of saving a _princess_.

No one mentioned any names, and Riku didn't pick up the phone.

-

25.

Leon never liked elevators much.

After all, putting faith in a metal box suspended by cable wires wasn't exactly something he did proudly. He didn't put much value on his own life, but _hell_ if he was going to let it be up to a damn box.

He freaked out when it shook. Not intentionally, but it was hard not to when your life was in the hands of something you couldn't control.

Everyone else seemed unphased, and when the door opened into the street, everyone released their assorted parasols in mechanic unison and walked in opposite directions.

Leon steps onto the street side and waits for the light to change.

The sign changed to WALK, and Leon walked. His umbrella stayed perfectly upright against the harsh winds that blew water into his face.

When he went _home_ that night, he slept to the reassuring sound of his partner tightening the bolts of his windows and closing the drapes, because rain at night wasn't too much to look at for either of them.

He woke up to the view of an attractive, darkened silver earring in the shape of a lion's head.

Leon felt free from worry.

Because nothing had changed since yesterday.

-

26.

Riku had tried to describe the falling of rain, but he couldn't.

In retrospect, it seemed like a simple thing. It wasn't _exactly_ like the tapping of feet on glass, or the soft pattering of drums. In the end, it was simply that – water falling on a slanted rooftop.

Rain was independent; it slid in tiny streams when it had nowhere else to go. And when that all ended and they ran in crowds into the sewers, they were _brave_ and forced themselves back up into the air, where they traveled the sky again then let themselves freefall back down.

The simplicity of the water droplets was a _beautiful _thing, and Riku was almost jealous of them.

For their freedom and their inability to think.

But then there were other times, when he – instead of staring at the water sliding down foggy windowpanes – looked into the glaring of the light that kept the earth _alive_.

And it seemed so _strong_ at the time that he was envious as well, but then the time changed and the sun sank. And it was weak in that aspect, too.

Riku never could decide which one he was more _in tune_ with. Or if he related to them at all.

But seeing his new partner walk in was different in both weathers. He seemed much _happier_ – if he had the right to use that word anymore – in the bright sun that warmed his clothes instead of the wetness that clogged his leather and skin.

(Leon's preferred wardrobe made him blink twice, every time.)

It caused him to have second thoughts, really.

-

27.

Their fingers touched, then entwined, and Riku pushed their palms together in the heat of the moment.

There's suction when they paused to breathe, and instead of Leon's hand, Riku reached higher and twisted his fingers into the older man's layered hair. It was just as wet at his hands, as his arm and neck.

Leon's mouth came away with flecks of blood – his or Riku's, he couldn't tell - from when one of them bit down too hard. Neither of them noticed – the taste is far too engrained and _normal_.

It was _painful_, but it was different than sitting pushed back into his closet, with flames licking up against his skin and causing marks that never seemed to go away.

It was a _welcomed_ pain.

But Leon seemed to notice, because they stopped and he curled up against him in a Leon-like manner, pushed under soaked coverlets unevenly until he stopped shivering. It was appreciated, because he couldn't have felt better if he had been rained on with flowers and glasses of thin champagne.

The posh almost-velvet of the blanket was ruined by their wet-but-drying state. Their eyes closed to the tune of running water.

And in the adjourning room, the shower ran cold.

-

28.

When Leon got 'home', the first thing he saw was a pale figure curled into the coolest section of the address; in the niche under the air conditioner, but a few feet away, and right behind the couch.

Riku was sitting with his hand pressed to his knee, and his other hand pushed against his forehead in an almost feverous way. His skin was paler than usual, except for a dull flush over his cheeks and the parts of his palms that had been pressed against cold skin. Silver hair was blown back from the filtered wind.

There was a glass of iced water sitting next to him, overflowing because the ice had melted. _Because ice inflates in heat._

There was a scrape of dulled, infused red and purple on Riku's leg – from when he had dragged his skin too fast over the wooden floor. Leon washed the wound with a damp towel and bandaged it, then got up to make the bed and force the teen into it.

It was messily made at best, but high up enough to their standards.

_His eyes were as wide as a nocturnal cat's._

He thought of when he himself had a fever. He wondered if Riku felt as miserable as he himself had felt.

Even if it _had_ been intentional.

When Leon held out a glass of water and a small, plastic measuring cup, Riku downed the liquid without tasting it or gagging.

They were out of tablets.

-

29.

Under the blanket, it was hard to see, because the light from the moonlit window didn't provide much under hazy textile covers. But Riku had long since memorized textures with his fingers alone, because it was hard to see during the wars at night anyway.

It was warm outside, so the russet-haired man had gone without a shirt.

And he was bordering on a deep-sleeper, so Riku didn't disturb him besides a small twitch.

_He was on top of Leon._

Leon's stomach was toned, like the rest of him.

Riku was sure it was tan, too, a _slight bronze_ from all the working out. (Did he work out? He never did seem to come back covered in sweat…) Because the rest of Leon was, Riku didn't doubt it.

There was just _something_ about being under the sheets with the other sleeping unaware that appealed to him. …Maybe it was just his sadistic streak speaking, but he didn't argue against it.

He used it as a pillow, that night.

It was just Leon. And Leon's scent was specific, and it drifted.

-

30.

Ties were like _poison_ – Riku denied them whenever he could.

But when he passed by and saw a flash of blonde, or a quicker flash of red, he always paused to make sure they were _all right_. Because even though he wasn't exactly…a _part_ of _them_ anymore, he still cared.

And sometimes there was another, slower and more inexperienced, flicker of chocolate brown and clear blue.

Sora wasn't meant for things like that. When Riku saw a trace of him, he kept walking, because _Xenmas_ knew enough not to give the younger boy anything to fanatical.

At least, that was what he had thought before seeing the bright pinpoint silver of one of his mentors accompanying Sora. _He had a harsh name_.

Then he worried. Not outwardly, no. Outwardly, he continued on his trip to the store and bought milk with a package of crackers, like Leon had asked.

Leon. _Squall_. That was another one. But he couldn't really place a name on him – no more than he could keep the older man on a pedestal and convince him to stay there.

No, Riku kept _light_ ties to avoid snipers.

_It was all in his past, right?_

Behind him, red and yellow exchanged glances and moved to clean up. They wiped their knives clean on sodden clothing. _They were beautiful things_.

_Leader_ demanded it.

After all, even murderers enjoyed looking at pretty things.

-

31.

He hadn't stocked up in the last week, so in the morning they had a choice between instant oatmeal or cereal.

Which was _basically_ the same, except one was wet, and one was dry. But that was usually mixed with milk anyway, so they _were_ the same.

Leon let Riku have first pick, because it seemed like he had turned the air conditioner on a bit too high last night. So it was out of guilt, really, but it wasn't said out loud.

Riku stifled a sneeze.

After opening his fridge, Leon asked what he'd like; tap water or Coke.

Riku glares and shreds another napkin. Because he doesn't like either.

He sniffled.

The tissue box was empty.

-

32.

When Leon visited, Cloud was careful not to give anything away.

The brunet had been gone for a long time, and there was no longer any place for him. They would all prefer it that way, and _Squall_ knew it, and so it stays.

When he left, he walked the short way, directly past another's subject without fear or hesitation.

A rookie starts, but the blue-clad man shakes his head, and muttered something about it not being their business.

_Silver_ _was_ part of the _organization_, the _black_. And it since it wasn't _blue_ or _red_, it didn't make any difference.

This was a war.

And Leon makes sure that Riku doesn't know.

Riku's message box stays empty a little longer.

-

33.

Leon didn't have many things he considered personal, but his scrapbook was one of them.

And Riku didn't assume, just sat down by the window (because it was still bright enough out that he didn't need the glare from electricity) and opened the plush velvet of the book's cover.

The photos were printed on delicate sheets of pure white, surrounded by simple lines to emphasize them. The cover underneath the velvet was a beautiful wood, and it was skillfully preserved.

Riku looked through them, slowly, and didn't stop when Leon sat beside him an inch away and looked with him.

Leon was in there, snapshot into memories.

There was a picture of a younger Leon, carrying a toy sword with a larger man beside him who held a startling resemblance. And then a bit older, rolling a mountain bike down a store aisle, with another boy with sharp eyes beside him, grinning.

Riku couldn't see because that certain picture lacks color, but he identified the boy's hair as blond, anyway. Because eyes that sharp could be nothing but blue.

There was another of them buying blue ice cream from a smiling vendor with a folded white hat.

There was also a picture of Leon and a girl in a white dress, and underneath in neat handwriting it reads '_Our First Meeting_'.

He flipped the page, and there were more after it. Pictures at the zoo, sitting on benches in the park…

Riku looked beside him, and could see from the brunet's wistful gray eyes that he doesn't want him to ask.

_It must have been something beautiful._

The pictures stopped those few months – was it a year? – ago that they met. Perhaps a bit before.

Riku didn't question it.

Their lives were decently developed enough, and that was just it.

-

34.

When a red-haired girl with a lavender-dusted skirt showed up at Leon's door, the brunet didn't know what to say.

After all, it wasn't as if he knew her. And she didn't look to be one of Riku's _acquaintances_.

That was what he thought before the teen showed up at his side and breathed out a name in bewilderment.

At first they didn't exchange words, but then the girl let out a string in a language that Leon could hear and decipher, but wouldn't ever fully understand.

He left Riku at the door and went to the kitchen, poured two glasses of iced tea and left them on the glass coffee table in the living room. Then he retreated into the bedroom and sits watching the mounted television on mute.

A little later, Riku comes in with a vexed smile, and it was dark out.

Kairi leaves the next morning.

-

35.

There's music playing from a black loudspeaker, like those found in teenage bedrooms, and it's a mix between harsh jazz and soft piano. But it's a beautiful thing anyway because it's so misunderstood.

Riku snaps the blinds open for more light, then sits next to him and listens. They hear the chirping of plastic-blue birds.

Leon blinks when Riku laughs and stands, then takes his hand. He stumbles when the younger teen pulls him from the sofa, but stops him from falling by sheer will alone.

Riku pulls him back up, pouting softly.

And encourages him to tap his feet in out of tune because it's more fun, and because they shouldn't _bend_ to the song, the _song_ should bend to them.

Teaching him to dance.

Leon doesn't have any neighbors on his floor, but he thinks that if he did, they would be stunned to hear the reckless music and laughter.

_They let go._

It's a beautiful sight.

-

36.

Lost keys made things difficult.

Riku traces his steps back to the store, but the storekeeper hasn't seen anything. But he does promise to keep a look out. Riku thanks him and keeps walking.

…It didn't matter too much. It was too much trouble to spend his day worrying about it.

As if he kept anything of importance in there, anyway.

Instead, he makes a call to his housing director and tells him to keep his apartment for him. But not to let anyone else in.

And that he has somewhere else to stay for a while.

Leon doesn't charge him anything, but when he goes to sleep that night, Riku sees him fingering a chain around his neck – _the birthday present_, of a lion's head that matched his own earring – and smile.

And he thinks that it'll all be okay, in the end.

-

37.

The water was scalding.

So much that he could feel his skin burn, as if it was pushing itself around and breaking off, like volcano stones in flame.

He studied it; saw his hands and arms as he turned them around in fascination. They were turning red from the heat.

It was from ignorance, or his own incompetence.

It was all Leon, just _Leon_ and _Squall_ and maybe a bit of _Rinoa_ and _Riku_, but he preferred not to think of it.

Maybe if he ran just a bit faster…

(Start checking for present tense again.)

Riku didn't ask – because as long as Leon's all right, then he doesn't need to. But he made him dry his hair on his own and sent him to bed, then took a shower in the remaining ice water that came out of the showerhead.

He downed four doses afterwards, so as to not catch a cold.

That one time really sucked.

-

38.

On the mantle above the television, but far up enough so that it's pretty easy to miss, there's something that he would call a _shrine_, if he were religious. But not really, because it almost reminded him of a section of a museum - those parts behind glass that you can see but not touch.

The medallion gleams with an unfinished light.

Somehow, Riku knows that the 'R' doesn't stand for his name, and he doesn't mind. Because although they were slowly discovering each other, they would both rather leave their pasts behind.

He carefully places it back in, and folds the glass door closed. He blows on it for good luck, and to scare the dust away.

Irony.

-

39.

Irvine's a part of them too, Riku thought. That time at that fast food place hadn't just been a mistake.

The taller man tipped his hat as he dropped off the letter. His gloves were fringed with tan lining, and tinted black sunglasses didn't give away any semblance of possession or passion.

Just a deliverer.

The sudden visit reminded Leon of something, and he went out without saying anything at first. He came back, a few hours later; a little more messed up and was carrying a plastic bag with an embellished logo in red.

He dumped the food wrapped in plastic onto the low glass coffee table.

Riku didn't manage to hide a smile at the irony.

-

40.

Riku fills his clean _plastic_ cup with water from the tap, and gulps the first cup down. Then he goes to the fridge and takes out a synthetic, almost-full carton of orange juice and pours himself another cupful.

He downs it, then pours another cup and sips it slowly. Riku makes sure to turn the tap water off before he does anything else. Although he regrets it, afterwards, because then there's no running water to fill up the sudden silence.

He never thought his past would mix everything up this way.

The glass sits outside the doorway, in shattered innocence. It didn't do anything wrong, after all.

The juice catches in his mouth.

By the time Leon gets 'home', the sweetness of the fruit turns into a sour bitterness in his throat that he can't quite swallow.

The carton's only half empty.

Leon gets a broom, because he doesn't want one of them to wake up suddenly and forget to put on shoes before running outside, and sweeps the glass over the textile lining and out.

Riku sleeps with his face curling into Leon's neck, so they can't see one another, and Leon just breathes in the scent of Riku's satisfying hair.

They don't mention the shattered glass on the curb of their doorway.

-

_Are you all right? Will you be all right?_

-

* * *

- 

The end.

-

I'm working on the next part now. :3 As always, feel free to suggest ideas. And I'm planning to work the characters from Advent Children into this, too.

The one with Leon's belt sounds, and the one with the sheets, were from **Uzumaki-sama**. (I'll use some of the others later. They didn't quite fit into these.)

Anyway, if you took the time to read, may as well review, right? Even if you hate it, criticism always helps. (…Just don't mention the past/present tenses. Gah.)

I love confusing you.

-


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